ETFs continued to gather assets in 2021 and remain the vehicle of choice for retail financial advisors, as firms seek out the tax efficiency of the structure and low cost products to use in client portfolios.
In fact, global ETF assets reached a record $9 trillion last summer, while assets in U.S. ETF market were nearly $7 trillion at the end of November 2021.
The big story, perhaps, was that the ETF industry continued to innovate and offer more choice to those seeking out the structure. Asset managers introduced a variety of new ETFs based on environmental, social and governance factors; we finally saw an ETF with exposure to bitcoin futures; there are even ETFs aimed at taking advantage of the rise in blank-check companies, or SPACs.
Many asset managers—who only historically played in the active mutual fund space—recognized the value of the ETF structure and gotten into the ETF business themselves in 2021, some through the conversion of mutual funds into ETFs.
Click through to see some of the biggest ETF stories of the year.
